Making Value-Based Payment The Best Choice For Providers (HealthAffairs)

What’s stopping value-based care from taking off? According to this hard-hitting Health Affairs article, it’s not lack of innovation—it’s lack of participation from dominant provider systems. The piece calls out how “must-have” hospitals avoid downside risk and game the system through fee-for-service and risk coding. The authors urge CMS to mandate VBP participation, overhaul fee schedules, and rethink risk adjustment to break the status quo. The takeaway: real transformation won’t come from tweaks—it’ll take political courage.